


The Worst Son of Apollo

by allyouneedissleep



Series: Winterhawk Bingo [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Boys In Love, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Capture the Flag, Demigods, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26908213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyouneedissleep/pseuds/allyouneedissleep
Summary: Clint always knew there was somethingoffabout himself. He was horrible at school, truly atrocious, because he struggled to read even simple sentences without fumbling over the words. He was unreasonably skilled with a bow, it was actually pretty awesome, but it was definitely uncommon. He sometimes saw things that he couldn’t explain, like he’d see humanoid shapes in the air or water and they would wave to him. (He once asked Barney if he saw them too and after being told he was going crazy, he got popped in the face. That was the last time he mentioned it to anyone.) Over the years there were things about himself he just learned to ignore or keep to himself. He didn’t need anymore reasons to feel like a freak.So when the monsters started following him, he wasn’t even surprised. Why shouldn’t he get chased across America by weird looking serpent women, Medusa look-alikes, or lion/scorpion hybrids? All that was just another Tuesday to Clint.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Series: Winterhawk Bingo [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891426
Comments: 10
Kudos: 62
Collections: Kisses Bingo, Winterhawk Bingo Round Two





	The Worst Son of Apollo

**Author's Note:**

> Winterhawk Bingo: Head Injury  
> Kisses Bingo: Head in Lap (which is on a square with one of my Wrist Kiss prompts)

Clint always knew there was something _off_ about himself. He was horrible at school, truly atrocious, because he struggled to read even simple sentences without fumbling over the words. He was unreasonably skilled with a bow, it was actually pretty awesome, but it was definitely uncommon. He sometimes saw things that he couldn’t explain, like he’d see humanoid shapes in the air or water and they would wave to him. (He once asked Barney if he saw them too and after being told he was going crazy, he got popped in the face. That was the last time he mentioned it to anyone.) Over the years there were things about himself he just learned to ignore or keep to himself. He didn’t need anymore reasons to feel like a freak.

So when the monsters started following him, he wasn’t even surprised. Why shouldn’t he get chased across America by weird looking serpent women, Medusa look-alikes, or lion/scorpion hybrids? All that was just another Tuesday to Clint. 

It was the half horse half man centaur thing showing up that was the last straw. As soon as the guy started talking about how he was a demigod and that there was a safe place for people like him, he passed out. 

Clint was 12 the spring he was brought to Camp Half-Blood, and he never exactly left.

\--

Clint is now 18 and he’s still at Camp Half-Blood. He’s left a grand total of 3 times. Once in search of Barney, who was decidedly not a demigod and also wanted nothing to do with him now that he knew Clint was. Once on a quest he was chosen to help with, it didn’t end in death, but it was absolutely a disaster and the reason he was never asked on another quest. And once to visit Sam, who is a summer camper exclusively and also the camp’s only child of Zeus.

Some of the campers come and go, but Clint doesn’t really have a family to return to anymore and, well, at least he isn’t alone in that. There are few others who stay at the camp year round, but he’s made friends with a couple of them: Nat, his best friend and fellow orphan, a daughter of Athena, Tony, who has only recently started staying at camp year round because he was functioning as an underage alcoholic, a son of Hephaestus, and Steve, a son of Ares, and his best friend Bucky, a son of Hades, who are sort of a package deal. He doesn’t know the whole story because the two rarely separate long enough to talk to, but he knows they aren’t exactly from this time and the details on how they can be his age and born in the early 1900s are weird to him. (They keep saying something about a casino? But Clint doesn’t even understand how they’re old enough to spend time in one let alone have been there for almost a hundred years.)

And then, well, there’s Clint. The worst child of Apollo the camp has ever seen. He’s actually shocked his godly parent even bothered to claim him, because if it wasn’t for his archery skills and dyslexia he wouldn’t even believe he was a demigod at all. 

Apollo is the God of MANY things. He’s the God of archery, poetry, music, arts, manly beauty, healing, plague, prophecy, and so much more. He’s kind of a jack of all trades and the only trait Clint got from him at all is archery, granted, Clint is the best archer in the entire camp and possibly even the world. It’s just, he kind of sucks at everything else and he’s extremely glad that his godly siblings are only there in the summer, because they never forget to remind him that he’s kind of the worst. 

Clint may suck at being a son of Apollo, but Camp Half-Blood is the best thing that ever happened to him. It’s the only place he’s ever felt at home, and he’s kind of dreading the thought that he may soon be aging out of the program and have to actually do something with his life. The thought that after this coming summer is over he’ll basically have to leave the camp for good sends him into a reckless tailspin; something that should be hard to do at a place where he is almost completely safe. 

So, despite the fact that about two thirds of the camp are back home with their families and attending school, Clint proposes a game of Capture the Flag that coming weekend. He had no idea that it was going to spike an even more competitive rush than it usually does during the summer months, and the scramble for teams is at an all time high. The Cabins of Ares and Athena are quick to claim the captain slots, and then it’s an all out war for who is chosen on each side. 

Clint is approached a total of three times to pick an allegiance in the games. It should really come as no surprise that he doesn’t plan on siding with anyone except the Athena Cabin, because he isn’t stupid and at the end of the day he knows Nat would have his balls if he chose to play with anyone other than her. Yet, both the Ares Cabin and the Hephaestus Cabin have approached him to side with Ares. It’s the first time in a while that Clint has felt that he could be useful without his siblings, because Gods knows they don’t want him for his healing abilities. 

The week passes with bribes of all sorts to get cabins to switch allegiances so that their team could win the game. Clint fully believes this is excessive since they aren’t even playing for anything, but he figures the winter at camp is boring enough as is so he understands why everyone wants a little excitement. 

When the weekend finally comes and the teams are all preparing themselves with shields and various weapons, he’s honestly shocked at who decided to side with who. It’s not too surprising that Hephaestus sided with Ares, as Tony approached him to join their team, but the fact that Hades chose Athena is a downright shock. Bucky never chooses to play against Steve, Clint thought it was an unwritten rule of their friendship or something: thou shalt never choose opposing sides. 

He steps back, dragging Nat by her elbow, “how the _fuck_ did you swing that one?”, he bobs his head at Bucky’s back.

Nat smiles with her eyes, her lips barely ticking upwards, “wasn’t that hard when I ensured him you’d be on our side”. Clint squints in eyes in confusion, he has absolutely no idea why Bucky would want to side with him. They’ve barely spoken more than a handful of words to the other without Steve or Sam being around and it’s not like he could drag the guy away from Steve ever to actually have a conversation with him one on one. Nat tilts her head at him, “you do know the guy has a hard-on for you right?”

Clint promptly chokes on his spit, “I’m,” he coughs and Nat thumps his back, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re not this dense,” Nat hisses, “he barely looks away from you.”

Clint can’t suppress his eye roll, “the guy never leaves Steve’s side. Don’t play around with my feelings like that.” 

The thing is, Clint knows Bucky is hot as sin. If he wasn’t there to witness the guy being claimed by Hades, then he would absolutely think he was a son of Apollo, because _manly beauty_ , the man has it in spades. It’s not just that though, in the, admittedly, many times he admired the guy Clint has noticed little things about him. The guy never kills a bug, which is kind of ironic as he’s the son of death and all, he almost always wins the award for cleanest Cabin, and he would do absolutely anything for his friends. That last one is probably a no brainer, since he rarely leaves Steve’s side, but he’s seen him do things to protect Sam too and Clint thinks that perhaps Bucky is just a selfless kind of person. 

Clint wholly and completely has a thing for Bucky, but the thought that Bucky might also have a thing for him is blindsiding. And to make matters worse they’re on the same team for Capture the Flag. He can only hope that Nat has devised a plan that puts them on opposite sides of the battlefield. 

“Oh and by the way,” Nat drags Clint back towards the group while raising her voice, “Clint and Bucky will be the two protecting our flag.”

Great, just what Clint wanted. 

\--

Clint’s propped in a tree about twenty feet in front of their flag when he hears a startled shout from behind him. He shoots an arrow at an approaching camper, and whips his body around to check on Bucky behind him. Clint is a lot of things, and clumsy is definitely one of them, so he shouldn’t be surprised when he falls backwards out of the tree. The last thing he hears before hitting the ground is a cheer that sounds suspiciously like one of the Demeter campers who are on his team. 

\--

The first thing Clint thinks when he comes to is _did we win?_ , followed extremely close by _ow_. The pain in his head is enough for him to ignore everything going on around him and attempt to squeeze his eyes closed tighter. 

He feels a hand stroking through his hair and cautiously squints an eye open, “Nat,” he slurs, “did we win?”

A deep chuckle responds, “yes, we did.”

Clint’s eyes snap open in shock, “uh, you’re not Nat.”

Bucky smiles at him, resuming his stroking of Clint’s hair, “no, can’t say I am.” Clint relaxes into his hold, he can freak out over this later when he’s back in his cabin by himself. “You gave me quite the scare when you fell out of the tree like that,” Bucky’s hand pauses while he talks.

Clint nestles into Bucky’s stomach, “don’t stop, feels good.”

Bucky huffs a laugh before resuming the petting, “you know, you tend to get hurt a lot.”

Clint groans, attempting to bury himself in Bucky’s lap, “you noticed that?”

“I think the aliens in outer space noticed that; you aren’t exactly subtle.”

“Yeah, yeah”, Clint mumbles, “laugh it up.”

“It’s just,” Bucky looks to the treeline, steeling himself to finish his thought, “for a child of Apollo, you’re kind of horrible at healing.”

Clint abruptly sits up, “I’m a horrible son of Apollo, I get it.” He shakily stands up, wiping his hands on his pants. 

“Hey!” Bucky stands quickly, reaching a hand out for Clint. “That isn’t what I meant at all! And you have a huge bump on your forehead, just stay seated until Nat comes back with the nectar for you to heal quicker.”

Clint huffs as he returns to a seated position, swaying into Bucky almost as soon as his butt is on the ground. “Okay, I think I might have a concussion.”

“Exactly,” Bucky claps his hands to his knees, “I would feel much better if you put your head back in my lap like it was before.”

Clint bites his lips to hide a smile, “so what did you mean about me being a horrible healer?” He lays his head back in Bucky’s lap and looks up at him while he awaits an answer.

Bucky sighs, “Clint, you are without a doubt, the worst healer at camp.” He holds a hand up when Clint tries to interrupt, “do not try and argue that. You have a new bandaid on your face at least once a week. I’m pretty sure I have stress ulcers from worrying about whether or not you’re stuck in the Big House on medical rest when you show up late to mealtimes. You have no sense of self-preservation, and you continuously ignore signs that you’re fatigued and need to take a break. If it wasn’t for the fact that you’re the best damn archer this camp has ever seen, the epitome of manly beauty, and that I’m pretty sure you were given his supernatural sight, I would think you were the son of someone else. Honestly, you fit just a tad better with his sister Artemis, but everyone knows she chose an eternal vow of virginity.”

Clint blinks slowly at him, a smile forming over his face, “what was that bit about manly beauty?”

Bucky shoves him gently, “oh come off it, you know you’re hot.”

Clint laughs, he can’t help it, he cannot believe Nat was right. “Holy shit,” Clint barely makes out through his laughter, “Nat was right. You _do_ like me.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, turning his head back to the trees. “I didn’t realize it was so hilarious that I might have a thing for you.”

“No, it’s just. I kind of thought you were dating Steve, seeing as you never leave his side.”

Bucky lets out the loudest guffaw Clint has ever heard, “that’s absolutely disgusting. Stevie is like my annoying little brother. I couldn’t shake him if I tried. You’ve met him!”

Clint looks at him in confusion, “so how on Earth did you get him to let up on you being on his team for Capture the Flag.”

He laughs and Clint swears it the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen. “The idiot never even asked me to be on his team. Which is kind of hilarious when you think about it, because I have it on good authority that he asked you twice to be on his. Just assumed I would side with him I guess. Was a no brainer when Nat asked me and sweetened the deal by saying you were the first Cabin to side with Athena, so-”, he trailed off and looked once more to the trees.

Clint opens and closes his mouth, thinking of something to say, when Nat finally returns with the nectar. Clint has a sip, waiting for the throbbing in his head to subside, before the three of them make their way back to the main camp. If Clint pulls Bucky back a little to trail behind Nat, then that’s neither here nor there.

\--

Later that night at the bonfire, when Clint is taking a break from leading songs, an Apollo Cabin tradition, Bucky pulls him away from the smores table. He’s about to open his mouth to spout his outrage at being rudely taken away from food, but at the quick shake of Bucky’s head he lets it slide. He follows Bucky to a safe distance from the rest of the campers and tilts his head in question, a silent _what’s up_.

Bucky takes a deep breath and slowly exhales through his nose. “We didn’t get a chance to finish talking earlier, and I need to get this out before Steve realizes I’m missing.”

Clint laughs at him, “you would think that Steve would learn when to be a good wingman.”

Bucky huffs under his breath something that sounds like, “you have no idea”, before beginning to talk really quickly at a normal volume. “The thing is, well full disclosure here, the thing is that I’ve had a thing for you since I saw you help that daughter of Hermes prank the Aphrodite Cabin, after they told her she would never be pretty enough to get someone to like her because she was neither attractive nor had a good personality. That was my second day here. I was so intimidated by you. You had like 4 beads on your camp necklace already, were friends with people from so many different cabins, and you were the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Gods, do you have any idea what you look like when you’re in the sun? The sun is drawn to you like a true son of Apollo. I might have stayed away at first, because I was sure you would reject me on sight. When I finally built up the nerve to ask you out, Steve wouldn’t leave me alone. And now here you are just blinking at me. Please say something?”

Clint blinks a couple more times, “I’m sorry, but that was extremely fast and has no one told you that I’m partly deaf? I’m not even sure I got all of that.”

Bucky’s head drops to hang dejectedly, “of course, I’m such an idiot,” he mumbles to his shoes.

He shoots a hand up to stop Bucky from walking away, “I am NOT rejecting you,” he said as firm as he could manage. “I got the gist of what you said. Basically you have a thing for me and for some stupid reason thought I was out of your league. Which is absolute horse shit, because you are the pinnacle of perfection and I’ve been into you since the moment you walked out of the Big House and the Hades claim shined above your head.”

“So we’re both stupid and could’ve been together like a year and a half ago?” Bucky looked at him hopefully.

Clint simply yanked Bucky into a kiss.

\--

It’s the first week of summer and for the first time in a while Clint isn’t dreading the return of his siblings. He knows that he is a true son of Apollo, Bucky made sure of that, and he’s not afraid of what the future may bring. Besides, if anyone tries to come for him Bucky has pretty much promised that he’s going to face them down with the wrath of an army of the dead. 

He’s walking up the steps to the Hades Cabin when he hears someone yell in a sing-song voice from the inside, “Bucky, your boyfriend is here.” Clint muffles his laughter and waits for the door to swing open. 

Bucky hauls him into a kiss, pulling away to mutter, “oh shut it you. Your siblings are gonna be worse and you know it.”

Clint couldn’t suppress his smile if he tried, “only because they’re gonna be jealous that I nabbed the hottest guy at camp when they were all off doing boring shit like school sanctioned sports.”

“Whatever you say Clint.”

Clint couldn’t wait to kiss Bucky at the Welcome Campfire that night, and then everyday after, because for once not only did Clint know that everything was going to be alright, but he actually had something worth celebrating.

He still wasn’t sure what he was gonna do when the summer ended officially, but he talked with Bucky, Steve, and Tony about maybe crashing at Tony’s folks’ place in the Hamptons so they wouldn’t have to leave Long Island while they figured out their next step. Tony assured them he could get them all in at Stark Industries, and that everything would be smooth sailing from there. Clint wasn’t sure if that’s what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, but it was a start and they had the rest of the summer to mull it over. Nat joked that they could work for the government as spies or something, and honestly that sounded a lot more fun to him. Besides, he wouldn’t put it past her for finding a way to do it. 

Clint pulls Bucky away from his Cabin, “come on, it’s almost dinner time and I’m hungry.”

Bucky allows himself to be guided to the Dining Pavilion, “you know we have to sit with our cabins”.

“Sure,” Clint shrugs nonchalantly, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t show up together.”

“Just admit you want to show me off to the camp and be done with it.”

Clint laughs, “more like I want to steal you away from Steve while I still can.”

Bucky barks out a laugh, “you would think the guy would learn not to cockblock after we became official, but I swear the guy is the most oblivious person on the planet.”

“But would he really be the Steve we know and love if he wasn’t?”

“Don’t encourage him,” Bucky bumps his shoulder against Clint’s. 

“Trust me, I would _never_ encourage his cockblocking.”

The two laugh as they enter the Pavilion, waving to Sam and Nat as they go to sit down. Tony is holed up at a table with his best friend Rhodey, a son of Ares, and he looks up to nod at them briefing before gesturing wildly with his hands. Clint walks Bucky all the way to the furthest table where the Hades Cabin sits and kisses him far too passionately for such a public place. He feels something hit the back of his head and pulls away from the kiss laughing, “hey!” When he turns around he sees Sam whistling innocently. Clint rolls his eyes and kisses Bucky’s forehead, “see you after dinner.”

Bucky rolls his eyes good naturedly, “I’ll be holding my breath until we can meet again.” He dramatically clutches his heart like he can’t go on without Clint.

“We get it, you’re in love,” Nat yells.

“Damn right, and don’t you forget it,” Clint points at his best friend. 

Yeah, everything was going to be just fine.


End file.
